Balance & Fairness
Lesson 6
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News should be reliable. But that is contrary to popular opinion. When Americans hear the phrase “News media” they think “Bias.” One can assert that journalism is slanted but how do you prove it? We examine this issue so you can decide what is balance, what is fairness, and what is bias, both in the news media and in your mind.
Democracy relies on the involvement of an informed electorate. But political partisans claim that “The Media” misinform the electorate, through imbalanced, unfair, biased reporting. Whose fault is it if the electorate is misinformed? What if the “facts” they are using to make up their mind aren’t actually true?
Back in 2010, researchers at the University of Maryland quizzed voters on basic facts that were connected to their choices as they made their way to the polls. They found that many voters were flat wrong on the important facts related to ballot choices being made. In fact:
55% thought we were still in a recession, when the economy had in fact turned a corner.
86% did not know their federal taxes had gone down since the 2008 election.
45% thought climate change is not occurring or that scientists are evenly divided on the question, when in fact the National Academy of Sciences, which is made up of thousands of scientists, has overwhelmingly concluded the climate is changing.
Can you imagine what the results might look like now on similar issues?
What might be the other implications of loss of trust in news media?
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